Technology Fellowship Report
by Charles L. Cope

 Background        The mathematics faculty at Morehouse College has made a commitment to phasing in the use of appropriate technology in our calculus classes. While a few individual faculty members have required students to use calculators or computers, most have navigated our traditional calculus curriculum by lecturing. The grant from A.C.S. and the Mellon Foundation has made it possible to begin a series of modules to augment the presentation of several key calculus topics.
        Much time has been spent interviewing members of our faculty to determine what sort of module they would find useful. Some time has also been spent interviewing faculty at other colleges about how they have implemented technology at their institutions.

Goals    The math department chair is eager to have computer teaching modules developed  which we believe will enhance the teaching of calculus. He has endorsed the following goals for module design:
        The module should

1) be convenient for both students and faculty.
2) instruct in an area central to the calculus curriculum.
3) provide assessment to document effectiveness.
4) be a prototype for other modules to be developed later.
Two modules    The original proposal outlined the development of a module to calculate area under a curve by dividing the area into a certain number of rectangles of equal width and summing the areas of those rectangles.The module would allow the student to vary the number of rectangles.
         During the development of the proposed module I attended a workshop sponsored by A.C.S. in Winter Park, Florida. One outcome of the Florida meeting was to produce a teaching module for a calculus topic. I decided to begin a second module, this one to investigate the derivative of a function by the difference quotient method.

Status     Although neither module is complete at this time, both are nearly ready to be tried with classes. Piloting is scheduled to begin early in 1999.